Scent of Aotearoa
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Scent of Aotearoa: Natural Perfume Crafted from New Zealand’s Native Botanicals
New Zealand is one of the world’s great botanical outliers – roughly 80% of our trees, ferns, and flowering plants occur nowhere else. That deep endemism means perfume built from local botanicals carries a sense of here – alpine light off glacial lakes, high-country tussock warmed by nor’west winds, the resin-green hush of beech forest after rain.
For many Māori, scent is inseparable from rongoā – a holistic system of healing that embraces plant remedies, touch, and wairua (spirit). Plants like harakeke (flax), mānuka, and others sit within lineages of use and care, approached with tikanga and reciprocity. While modern perfumery is an artistic practice rather than medicine, honouring these traditions means acknowledging whakapapa (relationships) and practising kaitiakitanga in how we source and compose.
Our perfumes are composed around sustainably harvested South Island native plant extracts. Each one aims to capture a place in a bottle – the cool lift of lake air at dusk, sun-dried grasses underfoot, or pepper-green edges of the bush. With every fragrance, you wear a little of Aotearoa wherever you go.
Mountain Herbs – Lacebark Blossom with Wild Horopito
Headline options (choose one):
- Mountain Herbs – Alpine Breeze, Lacebark Bloom & Mountain Pepper
- Mountain Herbs – Snowmelt Greens on a Peppery Bush Track
Fragrance profile:
Brisk, green and uplifting, Mountain Herbs moves like cold alpine air – fresh and herb-floral at the top, resinous warmth beneath. Its native heart pairs houhere (Hoheria populnea, lacebark) – graceful, creamy-white blossom and winged fruits – with horopito (Pseudowintera colorata, mountain pepper), whose leaves carry a distinctive pepper bite along bush tracks. Together they create a clean, vital Aotearoa botanical signature that feels like a ridge walk after snowmelt.
Wilderness Berries – Bush Fruit with Tōtara Resin
Headline options (choose one):
- Wilderness Berries – Dusk Trail Berries with Tōtara Wood
- Wilderness Berries – Sunlit Bush Fruit, Conifer Warmth
Fragrance profile:
Sparkling and sensual, Wilderness Berries opens with fresh citrus and blackcurrant before settling into a soft, musky raspberry base – an olfactory nod to birdsong and green understory. Its native pairing blends horopito’s pepper-leaf lift with tōtara (Podocarpus tōtara), the rangatira (chiefly) tree, whose conifer warmth deepens the fruit and lingers like sun-warmed bark after a bush walk.
The result is a bright yet quietly earthy New Zealand botanical perfume with the feel of berries and dappled understory at golden hour.
Lakeland Flora – Lake-edge Blossom with Mānuka & Kōwhai
Headline options (choose one):
- Lakeland Flora – Shoreline Blossoms with Mānuka & Kōwhai
- Lakeland Flora – Spring Gold & Mānuka Bloom
Fragrance profile:
Sun-hazed, luminous and gently green, Lakeland Flora floats freesia and mimosa over fresh leaves, pear and apricot facets that evoke a Queenstown summer afternoon. At its core are two icons of Aotearoa: mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium) – herb-honeyed and slightly woody – and kōwhai (Sophora microphylla) with its sun-struck, nectar-rich bloom.
Together they evoke lake air in late spring – floral light, a hint of sweetness, and a quietly radiant New Zealand perfume aura.
High Country Tussock – Sun-dried Grasses with Koromiko & Harakeke
Headline options (choose one):
- High Country Tussock – Big-Sky Grasses with Koromiko & Harakeke
- High Country Tussock – Warm Valley Grass with Native Bloom
Fragrance profile:
Textural and assured, High Country Tussock layers warm seed-head grasses with cedarwood and a brush of ginger. The native heart blends koromiko (Veronica salicifolia) – fresh-green with lilac-white spires – with harakeke (Phormium tenax), whose tall red-tinged flower stalks and generous nectar evoke big-sky summers.
It wears like an open valley – spacious, grounded and quietly sensual – an unmistakably Aotearoa signature.
From Wild South to World Stage: The Rise of Aotearoa Botanicals
Because so many of our species are endemic, perfume built from New Zealand native plant extracts (mānuka, kōwhai, horopito, tōtara, koromiko, harakeke, houhere) doesn’t just smell beautiful – it smells of here.
Think of it as terroir for scent: ecology, climate and culture carried in aromatic materials, from alpine pepper to shoreline blossoms. In te ao Māori, plants are part of living relationships; composing with them invites kaitiakitanga – sourcing with care and telling honest stories of place.
How to Choose Your New Zealand Natural Perfume
- Follow your landscape – Start with the place you love: alpine herbs, berry-rich bush, spring blossoms by the water, or the open high country.
- Test in daylight – Wear on skin and move; native extracts evolve with air, warmth and time on your body.
- Rotate with the seasons – Herbs for spring walks; bush-berry sparkle for evenings; shoreline florals for summer; warm tussock notes for autumn.
Ingredients & Care
Each perfume lists its native extracts and note structure on the product page.
Some formulas specify “Parfum: 100% natural” (e.g. Ecocert-aligned) to clarify composition.
As with any fragrance:
- Patch test if you’re sensitive
- Avoid contact with eyes
- Store away from heat and light
- Use lightly in shared spaces
- Enjoy the ritual of wearing a little of Aotearoa, every day